Researchers Say Ketamine Is Amazing Treatment For Severe Depression

Trending News: A Popular Party Drug Is Now Being Used To Treat Depression

Why Is This Important?

Because maybe all those hardcore partiers were onto something.

Long Story Short

Research suggests a drug synthesized in 1962 and currently used mainly as an anesthetic in hospitals and veterinary clinics, appears to be an effective and fast-acting antidepressant in patients suffering from severe depression or bipolar disorder.

Long Story

Descriptions of depression often refer to a long, dark tunnel with no light at its end. People are overcome by feelings of severe despair over an extended period of time.

The tunnel, however, is not entirely dark anymore. In fact, the scientific community is buzzing with excitement over a drug called ketamine and, for depressed patients and their families, it’s becoming a long-sought light at the end of the tunnel, shimmering with promise.

In the 1960s, ketamine made its debut as “Special K,” a hallucinogenic part drug. Later, it was used as a quick and effective anesthetic in emergency rooms and veterinary clinics. The US military used ketamine as a field anesthetic during the Vietnam War.

Traditional anti-depressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), typically take three to eight weeks to show any results and because different SSRIs have different chemical recipes, not all of them are effective for all patients. The payoff with SSRIs is too far away and, in the end, often turns to dust.

Ketamine, however, can kick in within hours. A low dose of the drug is given through a single intravenous infusion. The dose is less than when the drug is used as an anesthetic and low enough not to lead to addiction. There’s no waiting for long periods of time with debilitating symptoms of depression before seeing results.

Portland-based doctor, Enrique Abreu, began treating depressed patients with ketamine in 2012. He says, “The response rate is unbelievable. This drug is 75 percent effective, which means three quarters of my patients do well. Nothing in medicine has those kinds of numbers.”

A study released this week by Vanderbilt University Medical Center confirmed ketamine reversed depression-type symptoms in alcoholic mice.

Many academic medical centers are already choosing to treat depressed patients with ketamine, including the Mayo Clinic, Yale University and the University of California at San Diego.

SSRIs are known to cause a wide range of negative side-effects, including nausea, dizziness, insomnia, weight gain and erectile dysfunction.

Ketamine certainly has its dangers. It is a hallucinogen and for some patients, the hallucinations are difficult to manage. In higher doses, ketamine produces an intense effect known as being in the “K-hole,“ where uses are unable to move, communicate and feel far away from their bodies. There are reports ketamine has been used as a date rape drug.

Its abuse has led to increased regulation in the UK, where it was upgraded from a Class C to a Class B banned substance.

It was placed on the list of controlled substances in the US in 1999.

The antidepressant effects of ketamine tend to wear off quickly, within a week in some patients, which means to treat their depression, patients must keep taking the drug, the same way they have prescriptions for traditional antidepressants.

Another issue is that the cost of ketamine is not regulated, which means in some places it is affordable, while, in others, it’s beyond reach.

The controlled use of ketamine to treat depression is being hailed by some scientists as the most significant advance in mental health in more than a half a century.

Scientists think by blocking proteins called NMDA receptors, ketamine promotes greater connectivity in the brain through the growth of new synapses, while at the same time, interrupting and restoring other connections, triggering a rapid anti-depressant response.

How it works is not completely understood. Studies continue to examine the effectiveness of ketamine as a rapid antidepressant for patients with major depression and bipolar disorder.

When it comes to depressed patients who’ve unsuccessfully exhausted all available treatments, San Francisco psychiatrist L. Alison McInnes admits psychiatry had run out of gas. Dr. McInnes, a member of the ketamine task force set up by the American Psychiatric Association, expects the APA to support ketamine use in the coming months.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: Could other recreational drugs have beneficial effects?

Disrupt Your Feed: Ketamine is clearly a dangerous drug, not a cure, and for patients with mental health issues, its repeated use must be carefully controlled to prevent abuse and addiction.

Drop This Fact: Ketamine is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, a compilation of the most important medications needed in a basic health system.